How should I practice Josephus Survivor?

Start by reading the full statement, solve the visible examples, then compare the pattern against related Apple onsite interview problems in FastPrep.

Is Josephus Survivor associated with Apple?

FastPrep tags this as a Apple onsite interview coding practice problem when the problem catalog has that company and stage context.

Josephus Survivor

Apple● MediumFULLTIMEONSITE INTERVIEW

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Problem statement

People numbered 1 through n stand in a circle in increasing order. Starting with person 1 as count one, count forward and remove the kth remaining person. Resume counting at one from the next remaining person, and repeat until one person remains.

Return the surviving person's original number. Counting wraps around the circle and includes only people still present.

Function

josephusSurvivor(n: int, k: int) → int

Examples

Example 1

n = 5k = 2return = 3

The removed people are 2,4,1,5; person 3 survives.

Example 2

n = 1k = 7return = 1

The only person is already the survivor.

Constraints

1 <= n <= 10^5.
1 <= k <= 10^9.